CHAOTIC DYNAMICS OF PERIODICALLY FORCED SPHEROIDS IN SIMPLE SHEAR-FLOW WITH POTENTIAL APPLICATION TO PARTICLE SEPARATION

In this paper, we consider the technologically important problem of pe riodically forced spheroids in simple shear flow and demonstrate the e xistence of chaotic parametric regimes. The approach used by Strand (1 989) (for the Strong Brownian limit) is inappropriate in the chaotic r egimes corresponding to the weak Brownian limit. Our results also indi cate a strong dependence of the solutions obtained on the aspect ratio of the spheroids. This strong dependence on the aspect ratio may be u tilized to separate particles from a suspension of particles having di fferent shapes but similar sizes.